


Homecooked

by justbecauseyoubelievesomething



Series: Writer's Month 2020 Prompts [17]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cooking, Found Family, Gardening, Gen, Hunting, King Bellamy Blake, Minor Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Season 1, canonverse, found home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:55:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26110741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justbecauseyoubelievesomething/pseuds/justbecauseyoubelievesomething
Summary: A Bellamy Blake drabble for Writer's Month 2020. Prompt 17: cooking.
Series: Writer's Month 2020 Prompts [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863823
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5
Collections: Writer's Month 2020





	Homecooked

First it’s the panther meat, tough and gamey and stringy, but better than anything he’s ever tasted in his twenty-three years alive. He plays up the laughter and the smiles for Murphy and Mbege to see, letting them think he’s savoring the power as he hands portions out to eager delinquents. But even after they start breaking ranks and a seed of doubt is rooted in the pit of his stomach, even then the pop and sizzle of the fat bursting over the embers and the smell of roasted meat turned on the spit with his own hands makes him want to smile.

Next they find some sort of potatoes. Deep orange skins that peel off easily to reveal almost purple insides. They’re sweet, sweeter than anything he’s eaten on the Ark. He’s the one that figures out the best way to cook them, buried in the hot ashes with the skins still on to protect the sweet flesh. He hands one to the princess and even though she complains about the heat on her tongue she still eats the whole thing and another burst of satisfaction makes him warm to his toes.

They go through a rainy week where they’re mostly miserable and the hunters have no luck. Charlotte is sickly with the damp and cold and Bellamy finally decides she needs to eat. He coaxes a low fire in the slight lean of the ship, just enough to protect it from the wind and rain. The soup he cobbles together with scraps and odd herbs isn’t much to look at, but he simmers it for hours, letting the rain drip off the back of his neck as he looms watchfully over the little pot. When he gets Charlotte to take a sip, the light in her eyes is infectious and he doesn’t even mind that his shirt stays damp well into the next day.

He keeps up a stern facade because without it, they would all crack. They need him. Clarke tells him as much as they lean against each other, bloodied and beaten with Dax’s body at their feet. So he stays strong. Helps her make the tough choices. But he lets himself still take joy in the food. His own way of exploring Earth and all the wonders it once promised.

He figures out exactly how long to roast rabbits so that the meat stays tender enough to fall from the bones. He tests combinations of herbs and vegetables, silently noting which Delinquents express joy over their favorites. He grinds powders and steeps leaves to make tea and everyone is grateful as the nights grow colder and the watchmen on the wall cradle their mugs close as he walks between them with his kettle, keeping his own silent watch. 

So maybe it does sting more than a little when Clarke turns the crowd against him and they start to pack up their things. Maybe it’s harder for him as he looks around the place that they built together, that he turned into a home for this ragtag family. Maybe it burns at the back of his throat as he dumps a bucket of water over the fire one last time and turns to go, the familiar aroma of woodsmoke clinging to his skin like a cloak. 

He follows Clarke past the walls, past the familiar hunting grounds, past the berry thicket and the herb patches. He follows her and the Delinquents follow him and he takes a deep breath, hoisting his pack high, setting his mind on the path ahead.

“I wonder what the best way to cook fish is, anyways?”


End file.
